Traditional Thai Yoga: The Postures and Healing Practices of Ruesri Dat Ton

253 Pages·2008·11.87 MB·English

by  Enrico Corsi

TRADITIONAL
THAI YOGA
The Postures and Healing Practices of Ruesri Dat
Ton
Enrico Corsi and Elena Fanfani
Photographs by Enrico Magri
To Prem Rawat

Acknowledgments
We truly thank our Thai teachers Tung and Sonh Pohn for sharing
their skill in and enthusiasm for this priceless treasure, Andrea
Macario for translating from Thai, Nerio Brugna for the location, our
parents Rosa and Antonio Fanfani and Elena and Mario Corsi,
Cristiano Cori, Vittorio Maiullari, Bruna Gabrielli, Silvio Satta, Susan
Athol, Linda Murray, and all our students who helped us grow with
their feedback. We also thank the editorial and production staff at
Healing Arts Press for producing this beautiful book.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part 1. About the Practice of Ruesri Dat Ton
1 The History of Ruesri Dat Ton
2 Principles and Benefits of the Practice
3 Basic Techniques of the Practice
Part 2. The Practice
4 Postures That Benefit the Head, Neck, and Shoulders
5 Postures That Benefit the Torso
6 Postures That Benefit the Extremities: Arms, Legs,
Hands, and Feet
7 Postures That Remedy Overall Physical or Emotional
Health Problems
Appendix: Ailments from Head to Toe
Index
About the Authors
About Inner Traditions
Books of Related Interest
Copyright
Preface
We first had the opportunity to experience Ruesri Dat Ton—
traditional Thai yoga—after we had been visiting Thailand for many
years in order to deepen our knowledge of Thai medicine. We almost
immediately understood that we had discovered a priceless jewel that
nobody had yet tried to unveil. But only by regularly practicing its
techniques have we come to understand how deep are the qualities of
this discipline.
We sincerely hope that our readers will be able to perceive in this
text at least one sparkle of the enthusiasm that accompanied its
composition. During every stage of this project we felt both privilege
and responsibility in exposing a discipline formed by absolute
qualities.
We also hope, with all our heart, that many of you will be able to
draw benefit from the brilliant intuition that someone, more than
2,500 years ago, placed at mankind’s disposal. And it is to this person,
to Jivaka, physician and Buddha’s personal friend, that we dedicate
the memory of this book.
We don’t know whether Jivaka, when he developed these
techniques, could ever have imagined that one day his work would be
spread so widely. And we don’t know whether he is able, in some
transcendental shape alien to our understanding, to observe his work
enduring through time and expanding into space.
Still, sometimes, practicing Ruesri Dat Ton and the other
disciplines that Jivaka created, we imagine him to be next to us.

PART ONE
About the Practice of Ruesri Dat Ton